Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Time flies...

Time for the last show of the year. My! And even more bewildering is that it's Fresh! time again. It felt like just yesterday... anyway... for the unaware...

Fresh!is an annual exhibition of graduate work presented by Craft Victoria. The exhibition has a unique selection process involving a team of 20 invited industry professionals who visit over 35 graduate exhibitions across Victoria. Works are selected collectively from the fields of ceramics, glass, jewellery, gold & silver-smithing, fashion, textiles, industrial and furniture design and visual arts. Professional development opportunities are offered as awards in partnership with industry supporters.

Northcote Pottery offers a ceramic art award in association with Fresh!; a gallery hosted exhibition at Pan Gallery in the year following the recipients graduation. That means there will be an announcement of this year's winner at Craft Vic this Thursday 2 Dec (6-8pm). But it also means that the time has come to present the work of last year's winner... Matthew Briscoe.

In 2009 Matthew completed the Diploma of Ceramics at the University of Ballarat TAFE and was selected to participate in Fresh! Continuing his studies in 2010, undertaking a Degree in Visual Arts at the University of Ballarat, Matthew has continued to develop his previously exhibited Deconstructed Bowl series.

Transformation presents the progression of this body of work, utilizing the object to explore values in light and shade. The pieces have been made by deconstructing wheel thrown bowls and reforming the pieces to create new shapes. The works go through a transformation and by low firing the stoneware clay the sheen of the slip is maintained, highlighting the play of light on the surface of the reconstructed object.